Injection molding machine



Patented Oct. 10, 1944 2,359,840 INJECTION MOLDING MACHINE Gerald A. Goessling, Richmond Heights, Mo., as-

signor to Pro-Phy-Lac-Tlc Brush Company, Florence, Mass.. a corporation of Delaware Original application December 21, 1942, Serial No.

469,623. Divided and this application September 25, 1943, Serial No. 503,744

4 Claims.

The subject matter hereof is divided out of my copending application Serial No. 469,623 filed December 21, 1942, for patent for Injection molding machine.

This invention relates to machines for injection molding or die casting of plastics, that is, molding machines of the kind wherein the heat-softened plastic material is forced or injected from a pres sure cylinder by a ram therein into a mold cavity to form the molded article. The invention has for its principal object to increase the plasticizing speed and capacity of the above type of mold ing machine without lengthening the stroke of the injection ram, without loss of injection pressure, and without increasing the power required to operate said ram. Other objects are to provide a more uniform flow and thorough breaking up and heating of the molding material. The invention consists in the injection molding machine, in the plasticizing attachment for injection moldin machines and in the parts and in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur,

Fig. 1 is a central vertical longitudinal section through an injection molding machine embodying my invention and Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary central longitudinal section through the nozzle end of the injection cylinder.

In the accompanying drawing, my invention is shown embodied in an injection molding machine comprising a horizontally disposed ram or plunger I which is secured at its rear end to a fluid actuated piston 2 for reciprocation thereby. The piston 2 works in a cylinder 3 which is fixed to the rear end of a supporting housing 4. The piston 2 is actuated by fiuid pressure supplied to the cylinder 3 through a port 5 at one end thereof and a port 6 at the opposite end thereof. The ram I extends through the housing 4 beyond the front end thereof and is slidably supported in a non-rotary bushing I mounted in said housing near the forward end thereof. The ram I is cooled with water circulated therethrough by flexible pipes Ia communicating therewith. Rigidly fixed to the forward end of the housing 4 coaxial with the bushing I is an injection cylinder 8 having an axial bore 9 adapted to snugly receive the reciprocatory ram or injection plunger I.

The bore 9 of the pressure cylinder 8 is of uniform diameter from end to end thereof and opens at its outer end into the forwardly tapered outlet passageway In of an injection nozzle I2 that is threaded into the front end of said cylinder. Disposed in the adjacent ends of the cylinder 8 and nozzle I2 is a streamlined spreader or torpedo I21); and reciprocable in the discharge end of the outlet passageway I2a of said nozzle and an axial bore in said spreader is an inwardly opening discharge valve I3 that is closed by a spring I3a mounted in said last mentioned bore. The discharge valve I3 has a discharge passageway I3b that opens through the outer end thereof and is adapted to communicate with the outlet passageway I2a of the nozzle I2 when said valve is pressed inwardly against the pressure of the valve closing spring I3a. The outer or discharge end of th valve I3 is rounded, as at I30, to exactly fit the correspondingly shaped mouth Ila of an entrance or gate I4 leading to the mold cavity I5a of a sectional die or mold I5, which is moved by any suitable means (not shown) into engagement with the valve I3 to move the same inwardly in the nozzle I2 and bring the discharge passageway I3b therefor into communication with said entrance or gate.

The injection cylinder 8 is heated substantially throughout the entire length thereof by an electric heating element 25, and the ram receiving bore 9 of said cylinder communicates with the bore 26 of an upright second cylinder 21 through a material inlet opening or passageway 22 that preferably is clear of the working end of the injection cylinder ram I in all positions of the reciprocating movement thereof. Communication between the cylinder 21 and th injection cylinder 8 through the passageway 22 is controlled by a valve 22a that is located in said passageway and opens in the direction of said injection cylinder. Working in the bore 26 of the second or feed cylinder 21 is a ram or plunger 28 that is reciprocated by a hydraulically operated piston 29 located in the cylinder 30 supported on the cylinder 21. The piston 29 is actuated by the fluid pressure supplied to the cylinder 30 through a port 3011 at one end thereof and a port 30b at the other end thereof; and the ram 28 operated by said piston is cooled with water circulated therethrough by flexible pipes 29a.

Fixed to one side of the second cylinder 21 at right angles thereto is a third or plasticizing cylinder 3|, the bore or conduit 3Ia of which opens at one end into the ram receiving bore 26 of the second cylinder 21 in the retracted position only of the ram 28 therein. Journaled in the bore 3Ia of the cylinder 3| is a plasticizing feed screw 32 adapted to receive the raw, pulverulent molding compound from a supply hopper lib which opens into the outer end of said bore. The plastlcizing screw 32 is continuously driven by means of a power driven gear 33 fixed to the outer end thereof. Theplasticizing cylinder ii is heated substantiall throughout its entire length by an electric band heater a; and the feed cylinder 21 is heated by an electric band heater 251: from its port of communication with said feed screw cylinder to a point closely adjacent to the injection cylinder 8.

By the arrangement described, raw pulverulent molding material flows from the feed hopper 3 lb into the outer end of the heated plasticizing cylinder 3| where it is picked up by the continuously rotating plasticizing feed screw 32 and forced thereby into the upright feed cylinder 21 in the retracted position of the ram 28 therein. During its travel through plasticizing cylinder II, the material is thoroughly mixed and uniformly heated to form a plastic or fluid mass, which is then forced under considerable pressure into the feed cylinder 21 when the ram 28 therein is retracted. The plastic material is then forced from the heated feed cylinder 21 by the ram 28 therein through the valved passageway 22 into the heated injection cylinder 8 where it is engaged by the ram l therein and forced through the valved dscharge nozzle i! into the mold lb.

The hereinbefore described injection molding machine has several important advantages. The molding material is initially plasticized in the heated plasticizing cylinder 3| and such plasticity is maintained or increased during the passage of the material through the heated feed cylinder 21 and the heated injection cylinder 8. The machine greatly increases the: quantity of material that can be plasticized in a given length 'of time without decreasing the injection pressure; and it also enables the full mection pressure to be applied to the material throughout the entire forward stroke of the ram without increasing the power required to operate the latter. The plasticizing feed screw exerts a relatively high continuous pressure on the material; and it also thoroughly mixes the material and thus insures a more uniform heating thereof. Another important advantage of my invention is the adaptability of the plasticizing and feeding device for ready attachment to an ordinary injection moldmg machine without material change or alteration thereof.

Obviously, the hereinbefore described device admits of considerable modification without departing from the invention. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the precise arrangement shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for injection molding of plast'cs having a heated injection cylinder, a normally closed injection valve for said cylinder adapted for cooperation with a mold to be opened thereby, and a ram reciprocable in said cylinder, the combination of a heated second cylinder communicating with the space provided in the injection cylinder in the retracted position of said ram, a valve for controlling such communication and adapted to be closed by the pressure developed by said ram during the injection stroke thereof, a ram reciprocable in said second cylinasaaaso nozzle, and a ram reciprocable in said cylinder for injecting molding material therefrom through said nozzle, the combination of a second cylinder communicating with the firt cylinder in advance of the ram therein, a ram reciprocable in said second cylinder for injecting said material therefrom into said first cylinder, a third cylinder communicating-with said second cylinder in the retracted position only of the ram therein, a continuously rotating screw working in said third cylinder for feeding said material therefrom under pressure to said second cylinder, and means for heating said second and third cylinders, whereby said material, when supplied to said heated third cylinder in a pulverulent state, is initially plasticized therein and such plasticity is increased successively in said heated second and first cylinders, respectively.

3. In a machine for injection molding of plastics having a heated cylinder with a discharge orifice, a ram reciprocable in said cylinder for injecting molding material therefrom through said orifice, a second cylinder communicating with the first cylinder in all positions of the ram therein, a valve for controlling such communicaton and adapted to be closed by the pressure developed by the injection stroke of said ram, a ram reciprocable in said second cylinder for injecting said material therefrom through said valve into said first cylinder, a heated third cylinder communicating with said second cylinder in the retracted position only of the ram therein, a continuously rotating screw working in said third cylinder for feeding said material therefrom under pressure to said second cylinder, and means for heating said second cylinder from its point of communication with said heated third cylinder to a point adjacent to said heated first cylinder.

4. In a machine for injection molding of plastics having a heated cylinder with a valved dis- .charge nozzle adapted to be opened by the engagement of a mold therewith, and a cooled ram reciprocable in said cylinder for injecting molding material therefrom through said valved nozzle into said mold, the combination of a second cylinder communicating with the space in said first cylinder in all positions of the ram therein, a valve for controllling such communication and adapted to be closed by the pressure developed by the injection stroke of said ram, a cooled ram reciprocable in said second cylinder for injecting said material therefrom through said valve into said first cylinder, a heated third cylinder communicating with said second cylinder in the retracted position only of the ram therein, a continuously rotating power-driven screw working in said third cylinder for feeding material therefrom under pressure to said second cylinder, and means for heating said second cylinder from its po.nt of communication with said heated third cylinder to a point adjacent to said heated first cylinder.

GERALD A. GOESSLING. 

